On Water Birth

Since a number of you have commented on the fact that we had a water birth, I thought it was worth a mention.

I had never considered it to begin with. Before I was pregnant I was sure I would be a 'give me ALL the drugs' girl but when I moved to the UK I went to Active Birth classes and that changed my life.

The most inspiring little Scotswoman called Bette Duncan talked us through the benefits of letting gravity do the work. She gave us exercises and information, support and deep relaxation and she ran an extra class for those interested in water birth. Previously I had been very cynical about such Earth Mother/Hippie type nonsense. After all, they may come out of one nice warm environment into another but at SOME point someone was going to HAVE to take them out of the water!!!

Bette's class however, explained the other benefits; the use of warm water as a muscle relaxant and for pain relief; the fact that water encouraged skin to stretch and reduced tearing; greater mobility due to buoyancy. In addition to this, in about the third week of classes, a wonderful girl came back to show us the baby she had had just that week. She told the story of her water birth and of the positive experience it had been. I wanted to have an experience like that.

Fortunately, the Midwifery Lead Care Team (who had put me onto Active Birth in the first place) were also advocates of water birth and the local hospital had a water birth pool. We planned for a water birth. The idea is that you have to be a fair way along in your dilation before you can get into the pool, mainly because they have limited resources and need to keep the pool free, so I planned some other pain relief for the interim.

I used a TENS machine which attaches to your back and stimulates various nerves in your spine to block pain receptors. Some people use them for back pain. I don't know how effective it was really but as you pressed a button to 'up' the electrical impulses during a contraction, it at least gave you something to focus on! I also used gas when I was in the pool because you could just hang over the edge and puff on it during a contraction. Don't know if that was effective either, again, it just gave me a sense of doing something and I suppose it improved my breathing which is always good for pain. It turned out that the pipe was not properly attached to the tank for a lot of the time so I don't think I was even getting the gas. Apparently I had pulled so hard on it that it had come away :-D.

The best thing for me was the ability to move around with minimal effort. I just rolled/floated over if I wanted to change position. It was also great to have the midwife pouring jugfuls of hot water over my back to help relax me and ease the pain.

Overall I was in labour (induced..so pretty vigorous throughout) for about 8 and a half hours, four of which I spent in the pool. I can't imagine doing it any other way. I had wonderful midwives and I felt informed and in control for most of the time. Of course very little in this life goes completely smoothly and so I did have a rather extended second stage due to the fact that the Baby Angel was leading with her chin and got herself jammed at one point. I was trying to avoid interventions such as episiotomy and ventouse/forceps so I kept going for sometime (probably longer than was wise given the long term damage to my pelvic floor) and eventually one of the midwives rummaged around and flexed the BA's head so that she tucked it in and made her appearance on the next push.

So that was waterbirth. Its not for everybody but I thoroughly recommend it. I look back with pride on my achievement and what I was able to cope with. I think nowadays we get so much made 'easy' for us that we quail in the face of trial and throw up our hands at the least frustration. I wonder if depression was as prevalent in past times as it is today? There is something rewarding and fulfilling about surviving struggle and proving to yourself that you can do it. It reinforces your sense of 'self'. Who has time to be depressed when facing a challenge to survive?

And on that note I shall go and put my feet up on my gorgeous squashy couch, put on the kettle and sip instant coffee, maybe defrost a chicken in the microwave for dinner and think of skype-ing my Mum in England when the digital clock tells me the time difference is right.
:-D